Dämonen König der Erlösung
by Ichigo Oga
Summary: Rukia was late. She arrived to the sight of Ichigo lying in a pool of his own blood. She cried, Ichigo heard and all hell broke loose. Arrancar Ichigo! OP!
1. Awaken

**Author's Note:****Another new story that I've been wanting to post for a while. Updates won't be frequent because A Levels start next week. I'll start working on other stories in June.**

* * *

_"Zanpakuto"_

**"Ichigo in Resurreccion"**

"Talking"

_Thinking_

* * *

**Chapter 1: Awaken**

"Ichigo! Wake up you idiot!"

"…"

"Dammit Ichigo! Wake up!"

"…"

"I'm sorry alright!? I'm sorry for leaving you like that! Now I'm back, so please…don't die on me like this you idiot!"

"…"

"Dammit…wake up you idiot!"

Rukia was late. She didn't make it in time to restore Ichigo's powers and when she reached him, he was beaten to the ground, bruises and cuts all over him. She paled when she saw him all broken like that lying on a puddle of his own blood under the night sky in the rain. She carefully placed the special sword containing Ichigo's power beside her and cradled him. She couldn't lose him, not after these seventeen months of pain of loneliness.

It was hell living in Soul Society knowing that her berry was powerless, living a normal human life, free of burden of the afterlife and everyone thought that he'd be happy living like that with no reminders of the afterlife. Oh how wrong they were. She knew him the best, like the back of her hand. He was a protector, he loved protecting and now without his powers he couldn't do what he desired to do most. He was in pain, she was sure of that. And true to her words months later when she used the family senkaimon with her brother's permission and dropped by his place; he looked like a dead man walking. His eyes were lifeless, despair rolling off of him in waves and his scowl had been replaced by stoicism. She couldn't bear to see him like that, so she left and cried herself to sleep that night at the manor.

To get her mind off of his condition, she worked herself to the bone, completing paperwork of both her and her captain's in record time and then spending her time training, growing stronger for his sake, so that she never becomes a burden to him should they cross paths after his death. Her friends had told her to stop tiring herself like that and when her brother asked why she was overworking herself, she answered with a strained smile with tears in her eyes: _"Because this is what keeps me from thinking about Ichigo."_ Her brother stood still for a moment searching whatever-it-was in her eyes and sighed before leaving.

And then, Urahara Kisuke appeared in Soul Society with a method to restore his powers, that was when her eyes gained some life in them. Happiness and joy filled her heart that day when the permission to restore his powers was granted. She nearly cried in happiness but held her tears in order not to tarnish her reputation as Kuchiki. She couldn't help the smile on her face when she was given the task to restore Ichigo's powers and she was sure that her brother was slightly smiling at her.

All that joy and happiness vanished replaced by terror and pain when she saw Ichigo lying on the ground on a puddle of his own blood.

After making sure that the special sword was safe, she flipped Ichigo on his back and shook him begging him to wake up but to no avail. Cradling him, she sobbed as she shook Ichigo's nearly dead form in her arms.

Her attention was grabbed by a shaking cold hand on her cheek. She looked down to see Ichigo looking at her with a smile, his eyes lit with joy at seeing her. She slightly smiled and held onto his hand.

"Ru-Rukia…" Ichigo uttered staring at her crying form. "I-I missed y-you…" he took a shuddering breath and smiled. "Y-You're back…I'm glad to s-see you a-again…" Ichigo trailed off as he lost his grasp on consciousness and let the darkness envelop him.

Ichigo falling limp in her arms was the last straw before she wailed, "ICHIGO!" She openly cried hugging him close to her, not giving a damn about her Kuchiki identity because now she wasn't Rukia Kuchiki, she was simply Rukia, the soul that fell in love with a human, the same human who saved her many times.

Ginjo had already shared the powers he stole from Ichigo with the other Fullbringers and was currently engaged in a battle with Ichigo's father. The other Fullbringers were fighting the other shinigami that arrived moments after her.

"GETSUGA TENSHO!" She heard Ichigo's father roar followed by a bright blue flash that lit the whole place up.

* * *

Ichigo felt like he was falling albeit with resistance. Wait, why was he falling? Wasn't he supposed to be dead? He opened his eyes and found himself in the sideways skyscrapers version of Atlantis.

'What the hell am I doing here?' Ichigo thought as kept on falling through the water before hitting the cold metallic surface of one skyscraper. He knew he had died or did he pass out from blood loss? 'Doesn't answer why I'm here anyway.'

**"That's cause I pulled yer ass here Ichigo." **

As soon as he turned towards the voice, he was punched by a cold pale clawed hand. He smashed through multiple skyscrapers before being embedded on the sixth one. "Nice to see you too asshole." He retorted before pulling himself out of the small crater of his shape. He brushed himself as he stood straight up before looking at his inner hollow in his Resurreccion. "Now I guess thanks is in order if I am still alive because of you." He got a grunt in confirmation. Before he could ask where the old man was his hollow spoke up.

**"The pigeon ain't here." **

For a moment Ichigo was confused about the 'pigeon' comment before understanding who his hollow was talking about. He scowled and asked, "Then how the hell are you here Pale-face?"

His hollow took off the horned mask and scowled at his original. **"He took the full brunt of that Final Getsuga Tensho and left me with yer powers here so that I could save yer stupid ass again when the time comes." **

"Oi! Where are you going?" Ichigo asked when he saw his hollow walking away towards the edge of the skyscraper. His hollow simply made a 'follow me' gesture before standing still at the edge mask on. He stood by his hollow and looked at him with a raised eyebrow only to be roundhouse kicked in the face directly into the abyss that was the depth of his soul. "WHAT THE HEEEEEELLLLLLL!" He screamed as he fell into the abyss.

**"Find yer powers so that I can be done with ya for good!"**

Once again Ichigo felt like he was thrown into a pool by someone as he felt water splash around him.

_Is that even possible? How can I make a splash when I'm in water to begin with?_

For what felt like hours he kept on falling until suddenly he stopped and felt like he was floating. _Now to find my powers…_ he trailed off in thoughts as he racked his brain trying to find an idea on how to find his powers. He snapped his fingers and summoned spirit ribbons. Again many white ones appeared and among them he had to find the red one but to his surprise and horror, a yellow ribbon with blue aura appeared.

_What the hell…? Where's my shini-oh…_

**"**_**Find yer powers so I can be done for good!"**_

He realized now that didn't have his shinigami powers but only his hollow powers. But why was it surrounded by a blue aura? Then there's what his hol-_Zangetsu _said.

_What did he mean by 'done for good'? _

Deciding to ask the fool himself, he shrugged and pulled the ribbon but was yanked back towards its source. He kept on diving deeper as the ribbon kept on shortening towards its bottom point and he eventually found himself standing on a solid surface and in front of him was his hollow powers, all sealed up.

In front of him a several feet away was Tensa Zangetsu wrapped in yellow chains, and around it was a blue flame like aura that was shaped in the form of an energy broadsword.

Ichigo grabbed Tensa Zangetsu by the hilt and pulled but failed as the chains around it didn't let up. Grabbing it by both hands, he kept on pulling but to no avail. 'Dammit! Why isn't it breaking?' He stared at the chained sword in front of him for a while before deciding to approach it in a different way. He raised his hand and stood his ground. He closed his eyes and willed the sword to come to him. Soon the chains started rattling and he opened one of his eyes and saw Tensa Zangetsu shaking, trying to get free. He focused harder and mentally pulled hearing the rattling sound increase tenfold. Due to his eyes being closed, he didn't see the blue aura lead itself towards him and enter his body.

Losing his patience he willed and mentally pulled harder and one by one, the links in the chain started snapping and soon the chains broke and Tensa Zangetsu flew into his hand and enveloped him in a black sphere of energy. The black energy subsided and revealed Ichigo in his bankai outfit yet a different version. Or rather, the exact copy of Zangetsu's but black and red.

Ichigo looked at his hands in horror as he was met with pale white hands with retractable claws at the fingertips and the toes of his naked feet. He placed a hand on his chest and found a hole. He touched his face only to come in contact with bone like structure.

_Fucking hell…! _He mentally whines as the reality of the situation finally set in. To confirm his suspicions he tried taking off the mask only to yelp in pain. _I've become a goddamned VASTO LORDE!_

He never noticed the blue vein like patterns that glowed under the sleeves of his coat.

He sighed and glanced at the sword in his hand. It really was Tensa Zangetsu and he felt a slight relief in himself.

_Eh? Who cares? _Ichigo shrugged and bent his legs before jumping upwards where he knew his stupid hollow was waiting for him.

Ichigo zoomed upwards and in a blink of an eye he was in front of his hollow who was leaning on the white version of Tensa Zangetsu.

**"Yer late." **His hollow greeted disappointedly. **"Well then let's do the final dance." **

"When the hell did you become poetic?" Ichigo asked only to block a downward slash from his hollow. "What? I'll have to fight you again?!"

"…"

"Fine." He said before kicking his hollow only to miss as Pale-face buzzed away with Sonido. He tried using Shunpo and much to his annoyance couldn't do it. "You said to find my powers but why can't I shunpo? I even have Tensa Zangetsu in my hand!" He ducked under a slash from Pale-face before rolling backwards to avoid a vertical slash that created a crater on the place he was standing before.

**"I said 'find yer powers' not find yer 'shinigami powers'. Is it that hard to get it? And what you're holding isn't Tensa Zangetsu. A **_**poor imitation **_**that looks like Tensa Zangetsu." **Pale-face said before buzzing behind Ichigo and slash at him.

Ichigo turned around and raised his sword vertically to block his hollow's sword only to see it cut through his one like paper. "What the-?" He jumped back to dodge another slash but didn't take into factor the wave of pressurized wind that hit him in the chest sending him flying away. _Why the hell can he cut mine? Oh wait never mind. _He tried getting a feel from his sword only to feel nothing. Not even emptiness.

Hearing the buzz of Sonido he narrowed his eyes at his hollow who was charging a white cero between his horns. _Great! Now time to be roasted._ The moment he ended that thought was the moment he was struck by the cero but he felt nothing. No burning sensation, no pain. _What? _He had thrown his hands up in a cross to block some of the cero's damage but to his surprise, the cero simply bent away from him from all sides.

**"Ichigo, what powers do I represent?" **One question from his hollow was enough to give him the answer why the cero didn't hurt him. **"I am you…"**

"…You are me." Ichigo finished for him. "The cero didn't hurt because my own power cannot harm me and you represent my hollow powers instead of being my inner hollow right?"

**"Correct. Now what will ya do?" **His hollow asked as he walked towards him. **"Will ya accept me or suppress me **_**again**_**?" **By this point both of them were face to face with a foot distance gap between them.

Ichigo's eyes widened under his mask when he saw Zangetsu up close. His hair was blue, the white of his mask was blue as well. And there were glowing black vein patterns on his _whole body. _

**"Found something did ya?" **He could tell that Zangetsu was grinning under the mask.

Ichigo rolled up the sleeves of his arm to see the exact vein patterns except that they were glowing blue.

"What the hell is this?!" Ichigo yelled sending a glare at Zangetsu. The veins then disappeared as he freaked out willing them to go.

**"Find them out yerself. I ain't telling ya." **Zangetsu then slashed again at Ichigo catching him off guard and now spotted a thin shallow cut on his chest.

Ichigo jumped back and touched the wound wincing as he did so. _Fuck! Now what? _

Zangetsu buzzed into existence right before his face with his fist pulled back and punched.

Ichigo brought his arms up in a cross only to hear a loud crack and then feel pain before he was sent flying through skyscrapers screaming all the way.

_Fuck! _

He got out of the crater and stood hunched over panting as he thought about how to fight Zangetsu. He heard a buzz and there he was, Zangetsu with Tensa Zangetsu raised as he swung at Ichigo.

Ichigo barely managed to dodge it bending backwards but was sent back flying _again _from the wind pressure formed from the swing.

**"Come on King! How long are ya gonna stand there dodgin' me like a pussy?" **

"Oi! Ginjo's still out there! I need to defeat him!"

**"Yeah so what?" **Zangetsu deadpanned at him. Hearing a familiar buzzing sound he raised his hand and grabbed the foot that tried to kick him. **"Nice try but it won't work. Yer sonido is too slow." **He then threw Ichigo full force through even more skyscrapers. He sighed. _**This is getting boring…**_

On the other hand, Ichigo racked his brains trying to figure out what to do. _What should I do goddammit!?_ In the distance he could see a faint glow of a cero. _Wait! That's it!_ He bent forward pointing his horns at the hole and gathered hollow reiatsu between the horns and grinned when a crimson sphere formed. _Yes! Now to cut the flow…_

He cut the flow of reiatsu and watched fascinated as his cero met Zangetsu's own and detonated. Not wasting another second, he pumped reiatsu into his arms and saw his arms fix themselves. _Cool!_

**"Finally did something productive did ya?" **Zangetsu spoke from beside him making him jump in fright.

"When the hell did you get here?! You didn't even make a sound!"

Zangetsu dryly looked at him and said, **"My full speed is the same as teleporting from one place to another completely vanishing from the radar in that split second." **He raised a fist crackling with blue energy. **"Let's kick it up a notch. Bala."**

* * *

Rukia had quieted down from her wailing and kept on hugging Ichigo as she sobbed not noticing that there were two Ichigos with one in her arms and the other standing bent over behind her.

Byakuya noticed and felt a small wave of reiatsu wash over him. He quickly flashed to Rukia and grabbed her startling her before carrying both her and the corpse of Ichigo in another flash step.

"Nii-sama!?" Rukia asked startled.

Byakuya raised his reiatsu output just in time for a _massive _wave of reiatsu crash on them. Both of them were flattened on the ground bordering on passing out before removing the limiter decreasing the pressure on them. Byakuya increased his power output and enveloped Rukia too letting her breathe properly but she was still hunched over the dead body of Ichigo while he was on his knees. Around him he could hear the battles stopping and reiatsu output increasing.

_What's with this boy?! _He thought as he looked at the now swirling mass of black and red reiatsu several meters away from them. He heard a gasp and saw Rukia straining her neck to see the same thing as him.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura." He released his shikai and created a dome that protected the two of them and Ichigo's human body. _The boy is hollowfying. We were too late._

Then the reiatsu signature completely _vanished._

* * *

Isshin was furious. First with himself and with the man in front of him. Ginjo Kugo. This man not only did he toy with Ichigo and take his powers but also had the guts to beat his son to an inch of his life. When he arrived to the scene with Urahara, the man wore a glove and slapped him in the face separating him from his gigai to allow him to attack Ginjo.

His heart twisted in pain in seeing Rukia lose her cool and break down holding his son close to herself trying to wake him up. The scene warmed his heart which soon froze when he realized the pain his daughters would be in once they get to know what they did to their brother.

The two stopped fighting once a large amount of pressure fell upon their shoulders flattening them to the ground. Ginjo on the other hand barely managed to go Bankai to counter the pressure. Isshin released his shikai and slowly got up his knees and sighed in relief as the pressure vanished. He paled when he recognized the reiatsu signature and felt all the emotions running in it. He could _feel_what the reiatsu was expressing. Bloodlust. Rage. He prayed that the thing that attacked him all those years ago doesn't target him again.

He looked at Ginjo only to see the man in some kind of fairy cosplay with different hair and eye color scheme holding an upgraded version of his oversized claymore. He grinned again when he saw the confusion and utter fear in Ginjo's eyes.

Not willing to let Ginjo figure out the truth, he launched a Getsuga Tensho only for his one to be countered by Ginjo's own copy of Getsuga Tensho. "Tch. Damn bastard copied everything from Ichigo." He muttered under his breath and raised his tachi above his head to block an overhead slash that had too much power causing a crater to form around him. He flicked his finger sending Ginjo flying through the sky and readied himself.

He heard a buzz and there stood beside him in ragged clothes, the hollow from twenty years ago that nearly caused Masaki to die. The hollow looked at him and he tensed with a hand on his zanpakuto.

**"Calm down old fart." **The Vasto Lorde got silence from Isshin. **"The king's busy learning stuff. Until then I'm driving." **He then looked at the sky and found a dumbfounded Ginjo looking at him with wide eyes. **"Target locked." **He muttered before _vanished _from the spot without any sound.

Isshin relaxed and walked back to the pink dome that slowly fell apart revealing Byakuya and Rukia with Ichigo's dead body.

"You guys felt that?" He asked only to get a deadpan stare from the captain of the sixth while Rukia nodded with wide eyes.

"What was that?! I almost passed out!"

"That…" Isshin pointed at the fight going on in the sky and continued, "…is Ichigo's hollow fighting Ginjo." _I'm not going to go and tell them that this is the same hollow that kicked my stylish ass._

"But how?!"

"His hollow powers should've been gone with his shinigami powers no?" Byakuya asked.

Isshin shrugged and barely managed to stop himself from flinching when said hollow appeared beside him with Ginjo's dead body and fullbring in his hands.

**"Talk about pathetic." **The hollow replied not reacting to the siblings pulling out their zanpakuto. He jerked his head and vanished once again leaving three cautious shinigami.

* * *

_**A few minutes ago…**_

Zangetsu blinked into existence right in front of Ginjo with his right hand pulled into a fist.

**"Yo! Thanks for killing King." **He said before punching Ginjo who barely managed to raise his Fullbring to block. **"Tsk." **He muttered when he saw Ginjo fly away from his punch. He vanished again soundlessly with Sonido and stood several feet away from Ginjo who was glaring at him with his claymore having a spider web crack on it.

"Who the hell are you!?" Ginjo yelled at Zangetsu seemingly trying to stall.

**"Me?"** Zangetsu innocently pointed at himself. **"I'm the king's horse. Thanks to you, I can serve king one last time!" **He snickered when Ginjo had a confused expression on his face. **"By 'king' I mean 'Ichigo'. Thanks to you, he's dead and is currently fighting me learning to get a proper hold on my powers. Too bad I won't be there to see him become an arrancar and release his Resurreccion." **Zangetsu sighed dramatically secretly enjoying the sight of Ginjo paling. **"Now. I suppose you have something to return, do you not?" **

"What's there to return?!" Ginjo snarled charging up reiatsu to launch at the Vasto Lorde before him. "I helped him learn the Fullbring so I have to right to take it from him!"

Zangetsu shook his head in resignation and said, **"Man yer not worth my time. So…"** he raised a fist and red energy crackled around it. **"…why don'cha do me a favor and die?" **He punched releasing the crackling energy and grinned when a hole burst open on Ginjo's chest where his heart was. As Ginjo fell, Zangetsu grabbed the Fullbring and stabbed Ginjo with it and watched as the transformation faded away and silvery ash colored fluid became one with the claymore fixing up the cracks. He checked Ginjo's eyes and saw that they were dull and hollow meaning that he was dead. _**Still…it's better if I guarantee his death. **_He launched another bala and smirked as Ginjo now had another hole now on his throat. He picked up the dead body and vanished reappearing beside Isshin. He smirked when he noticed the Kuchiki siblings flinch while Isshin tried not to.

**"Talk about pathetic." **He complained as he dropped the dead body ignoring the way his queen and her brother pulled out their zanpakuto. He felt his king nearing the end and jerked his head before vanishing deeper into the forest. _**He's nearly done. Best be done with it. **_

He then took hold of Ginjo's Fullbring in a reverse grip and stabbed himself with it and stopped when the guard hit him. The sword glowed silvery green this time and dissolving into him. _**Now to wait for it…**_

Black, blue, green and red with gold reiatsu burst out of him in the shape of a pillar and went past the skies clearing the clouds. The whole clearing was charred black and trees were reduced to ashes from the sheer heat and density from the reiatsu.

* * *

Rukia and Byakuya stood still, zanpakuto in hands as she watched the Vasto Lorde drop the dead body of Ginjo. She took a good look at the Vasto Lorde and widened her eyes as she understood _who _it was.

Standing before her and her brother beside Isshin was a long _orange haired Vasto Lorde. _It had a fearsome appearance with the pale white skin and horned mask along with the black markings. It was wearing Ichigo's clothes which were sadly in tatters.

**"Talk about pathetic." **The being complained.

_So this is Ichigo's hollow…_

She eyed the hollow and tensed when it jerked its head before vanishing. She immediately relaxed and sighed. She sheathed her zanpakuto with a click and frowned at Ichigo's body full of bruise and cuts.

"Yo Rukia! What happened?" Renji came from the bushes with the other shinigami in two. Captain Zaraki looked displeased while Ikakku was grinning. Captain Hitsugaya brought a blonde haired boy in black frozen in ice.

"Ichigo's hollow happened." She replied making them freeze. "Don't worry he's not here." Just as she said that, a _humongous _wave of reiatsu pressed down on everyone dropping them to the ground as a pillar of black, red, green, blue and gold reiatsu shot up past the skies. Rukia was gasping for breath along with Renji and Ikakku. Captain Zaraki was grinning while he was on his knees. Her brother was on his hands and knees and the same was with captain Hitsugaya. _What is that?_ Isshin too was on his knees only with Kenpachi.

Just as it appeared out of nowhere, the reiatsu signature _vanished _once again letting them breathe.

"J-J-Just wh-what the _fuck _was _t-that_?!" Renji yelled with wide eyes of disbelief.

"That was probably Kurosaki-san's hollow absorbing the Fullbring." Urahara commented out of nowhere on a branch of a tree making some of them jump. "Hello there! Nice to see you all here!" He greeted cheerfully while ignoring Ichigo's dead human body.

"Don't scare us like that you fool!" Rukia yelled hitting Urahara with her sandal.

"Sorry sorry! Won't happen again!" Urahara replied cheerfully totally not sorry despite the red sandal mark on his face.

Isshin snickered and Byakuya sighed as if ten years of his life was taken away from him which technically was true specially when you're around a Shiba.

Another wave of reiatsu followed by a demonic roar crashed down on them dropping them to their knees and on four for the lieutenants.

**"GRRAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!"**

The pressure then slowly decreased until they were able to breathe normally again. The reiatsu signature vanished again before Rukia could even get a lock on it.

"What the fuck?! It's what? Three times this happened?! What's happening?!" Ikakku exclaimed.

All of them froze as suddenly another shadow joined theirs except that it was missing the owner and the moon was somehow blocked from view. They looked up and paled as dread crept up their spine making them shiver in fear.

There, several meters in the sky above them was a _demon. _It had long straight orange hair that reached down to its waist. It had four blue wings with the upper two being wider and longer than the lower two. It had four horns. Two forward pointing horns protruding from the temples and two protruding from the corner of its lower jaw that curved backwards round the neck. The only reason the lower two were visible was because of the ominous red and yellow glow on its outer and inner side. Its eyes were glowing eerie menacing yellow. They could see a part of the moon through the hole in the center of its chest.

But what concerned them the most was the fact that they couldn't even _sense _it. As if it's out of their radar despite being close to them. Just like Aizen. Transcendence.

The silence was broken from the sounds of zanpakuto being pulled out by everyone but Urahara, Isshin and Rukia; because they _knew_ who the demon was.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled out to the demon. Said demon craned its neck in her direction and raised a hand before waving at her.

**"Yo Rukia! Mind asking them to loosen up? It's me. Zangetsu's gone. Err my hollow I mean."** Ichigo's voice now was double toned, dark and heavy with a slightly slur.

Before Rukia could reply to him her brother asked, "How can we be sure that you're Kurosaki and not some Vasto Lorde class hollow?" She saw him tensed and prepared to strike.

Demon Ichigo rubbed his neck and sighed. **"Well, I am a Vasto Lorde **_**now**_** but will probably become an arrancar later. I merged with Hollow Zangetsu and after absorbing both mine and Ginjo's Fullbring, I became this."** He concluded waving his hand over his body.

"You look like a demon Ichigo! Think you're strong enough to fight me?" Kenpachi grinned maniacally as he said those words.

To everyone's surprise Ichigo answered, **"It won't even take me more than two minutes to defeat you but I'd rather not do it now. We've got things to settle and some explanations to deliver, right?"**

"When the hell did he become rational?" Rukia muttered under her breath and looked up when she felt him looking at her.

"**I heard that midget. As for your question, war changes people."**

Everyone cringed when he said the war part. Byakuya sighed and sheathed Senbonzakura prompting others to do so. He nodded to Ichigo and he nodded back before dropping to the ground with a thud as a small craters formed under his feet.

Rukia walked up to him and got a better look at him. He looked like a fearsome demon, yes; but he was still a protector in his heart. She placed a hand on his chest and trailed her hand around his body.

_He's warm. _

He kept his lean and muscle figure but at the same time was slightly bulkier compared to minutes ago. His chest was decorated with black markings that originated from his hollow hole across his chest and shoulders. The black markings seemed to have slight shades of crimson and blue on its edges.

His fingers and toes appeared to be more claw-like in nature and looked sharp enough to tear into flesh. The tips of his fingers and toes were black. From the tip of his middle finger, the black mark ran along the length of his arms and joined with the V part of the other black markings on his shoulders.

His shoulders seemed a bit bulkier as they were decorated with silver glistening sharp scales that glowed blue underneath with every breath. The scales spread out to the back of his upper arms, the sides of his body and thighs. His calves were covered entirely in layered scales.

His elbows and knees were covered by three black claws that were outlined by crimson glowing cracks.

His hollow mask had sharp teeth in a grin. Four small spikes covered his chin between the horns that protruded from the corners of his lower jaw. Said protrusions were jet black in color and just like she concluded it was outlined with glowing crimson cracks on the outer side while glowing yellow in the inner side. The horns protruding from his temples made a menacing appearance for most part.

And his wings…

"They're so beautiful…" Rukia said in a trance as she gently touched the glowing cobalt blue wings with black spiral patterns on them.

"**Thanks I guess."** Ichigo muttered as he rubbed the back of his head. **"You're not scared?"** At this he received a glare.

Rukia stepped back and noticed her brother relaxing slightly in the corner of her eyes. Craning her head up she glared at Ichigo and said, "And I should be scared why?"

**"Cause I look like a demon? Inoue and Ishida seemed scarred the previous time and that one was far less menacing than this form."**

Rukia narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Listen here Strawberry. I don't care what you look like as long as I know that it's _you _in your core. And I honestly can tell whether it's you or not and I dunno why. But does it matter? No it doesn't. So don't beat yourself over mere appearances. You're a protector at heart Ichigo and I can _feel _it even now." She sighed and pinched her nose. "And the fact that Ishida and Inoue were scared of your previous form means that they are _weak. _They are _too weak _and _blind_ to not see what's under this cover." She said the last line knocking on his chest and slightly winced at how hard it was. _Hard but warm._

Ichigo now standing at perfect seven feet was gaping at the shorter woman who made his existence now as a demonic Vasto Lorde _meaningful. _He chuckled and surprised everyone by hugging Rukia. **"Thanks Rukia. That means a lot. I was fearing rejection from you and the others but I don't care about the others as long as you can accept me as I am now."**

Rukia was blushing and mumbled out, "You're welcome idiot."

The others smiled at the heartwarming(?) scene and let the two have their silence only to be broken by an someone they forgot about.

"K-Kurosaki?!" Uryu exclaimed as he stood between the trees behind Urahara dumbstruck at Ichigo's new transformation. "What the hell happened to you?!"

**"I came back from the dead. _Again._" **

Uryu snorted. "No shit. And no, I'm not scared of you as you are now. In fact you remind me of the demon hunters (Dante and Nero) I read about in a story book." _I'd rather die than admit I play games._ He sighed and swept his band behind him. "As for Inoue-san…she'll be further traumatized. I'm sorry."

Ichigo and Rukia sighed.

**"Thanks Ishida. Now come here and let Rukia heal you."** Ichigo slightly nudged Rukia after releasing her from the hug. Rukia rolled her eyes as she walked to Uryu and had him seat on the ground before applying healing kido on his wound.

"Thanks Kuchiki-san. I feel better now."

"No worries." Rukia stood up and dusted her clothes before turning to face Ichigo. "What now?" She noticed her brother being more than comfortable by leaving matters in her hand for now.

**"Becoming an arrancar is next. I can't walk around like this can I?"**

"Do you even know how to do that?" Rukia asked impatiently tapping her foot on the ground. To her surprise he nodded.

**"Yeah. I'll have to break my mask and seal my powers into _something._"**

"Maybe you could seal your powers in this little toy over here then?" Urahara asked grinning as he held the glowing sword in his free hand. _I want to see what will happen should he try to seal his powers in this asauchi. Hopefully he won't die._

Ichigo gave the sword a skeptical look before looking at Rukia asking for an explanation.

"We were given permission by the head captain to return your shinigami powers. That asauchi has reiatsu from the captains and lieutenants from the whole Gotei 13."

**"Whaddya think I should do Rukia?"**

Said person shrugged and said, "Just grab it and see what happens."

Urahara walked up to him and held the asauchi by the blade pointing the handle towards Ichigo. "Ma~ Ma~ what's the waiting for Kurosaki-san~? Just do it!" The crazy scientist/ humble shopkeeper said hiding his grin with his irritating fan.

**"Fine."** Ichigo huffed our before grabbing the sword with his left hand and the right horn on his head. **"Step back as much as you can."** Once everyone followed his orders he took a deep breath. He snapped his right horn off and pulled the powers stored in the asauchi before pushing his own into them causing a burst of midnight black reiatsu to occur that formed a solid sphere around him.

"Well…" Renji began as he saw the floating sphere of solid reiatsu that Ichigo was in. "…at least we weren't crushed this time eh?"

Kenpachi grunted and crossed his arms while Ikakku looked excited. Urahara looked like a child high on sugar with the face splitting grin that was hidden underneath the fan while Isshin looked contemplative.

Rukia nodded and waited.

The silence was soon broken by the cracks that slowly spread out leaking red reiatsu increasing the gravity around them. Immediately all of them raised their reiatsu output to counter it but eventually dropped on all four when the sphere shattered and reiatsu heavy, dense and _dark_ unlike any other pressed upon them. The captains were struggling not to pass out, mainly Byakuya and Toshiro. Urahara and Isshin were breathing heavily on all fours. The lieutenants has blacked out and Kenpachi was…Kenpachi, grinning maniacally despite dropping to his knees, the only one who wasn't on his hands.

Soon the reiatsu signature vanished again and there stood Ichigo several feet away in a new appearance.

He was wearing his bankai outfit except that he had the red tufts of fur around the collar and sleeve ends and was on bare foot. The left side of his face had two black lines that joined with the ones on his chest at the neck. His left eye had black sclera and golden yellow iris with three black rims while his right eye was normal except that instead of brown it was crimson with three black rims. On his waist was what they concluded to be Tensa Zangetsu sheathed in a red sheath with its chain wrapping around it. He was slightly taller as well. He stood at perfect six feet unlike his Vasto Lorde form which was seven feet in height.

Urahara started laughing like a loon gaining annoyed looks from the conscious people and a raised eyebrow from Ichigo.

"Well Kurosaki-san? What do you think? How do you feel?" He was confused when Ichigo grimaced for a split second before smirking. He understood the reason when Ichigo spoke only one word.

"Transcendent."

Isshin scoffed and said, "Don't let this power get to your head got it Ichigo?"

Ichigo nodded catching on to the hidden meaning. _We don't need you to pull an Aizen._

"KUROSAKI!" Said person looked behind him at Tsukishima who was leaning heavily on a tree with face twisted in a mix between anger and agony. "How dare you kill Ginjo!" Using the last bit of his fading powers, he lunged at Ichigo only to be split in two.

"Che." Ichigo muttered sheathing his zanpakuto behind Tsukishima's dead body. No one noticed him absorbing Tsukishima's Fullbring. "Too noisy."

Everyone conscious gulped.

* * *

Rukia woke up to the noise of people shouting close to her. In fact… _Why does Ichigo sound so pissed?_ She rubbed her eyes and looked around her spotting Ichigo scowling at Urahara.

"What happened Ichigo?" Rukia asked as she yawned. She winced when Ichigo snapped his neck in her direction.

"Rukia!" His voice sounded a tad deeper too. "Are you alright? You didn't die did you?!"

Rukia narrowed her eyes at the last question. _Did he lose his mind with the transformation or something?_ She then got a proper look at him and finally noticed the horn protruding from his left temple, the two black markings that covered the left side of his face and went past his chin down his neck. His gold on black left eye and the crimson right eye. _Huh…he kinda looks good like this…_

"Oi!" She jostled when Ichigo snapped his fingers before her eyes. She went cross eyed for a moment before swatting his hand away.

"I'm fine stupid strawberry. Just thinking." Rukia grumbled.

"Thinking about little old me?" Ichigo asked grinning like a cat.

Rukia sputtered before narrowing her eyes. _Is he…teasing me? _

"Ho? You're being quite bold aren't you strawberry?"

Before Ichigo could reply, Byakuya cleared his throat getting their attention. Both of them apologized and Ichigo sat facing Urahara.

"So? Why can't you create a gigai for me? My human body has disintegrated so I can't return into it." Rukia flinched at the last sentence. She noticed Ichigo glancing at her from the corner of his eyes before looking at Urahara.

Said person snapped open his stupid fan and cheerily said, "Oh! You see a gigai needs to be fed reiatsu in order to work. Your reiatsu on the other hand is not only unnoticeable but it also is _extremely_ dense. So even the slightest bit of your reiatsu can completely disintegrate the gigai." Rukia and Ichigo's eye twitched as the man opposite to them kept grinning despite the severity of the situation.

_This man…! Wish I could turn him into a popsicle!_

"I suggest you come with us to the captains meeting and plan out what to do." Byakuya spoke up with Toshiro nodding in agreement.

"Yeah! And hopefully let me fight you too!" Well, the person doesn't need to be identified in this case.

"Where's the guarantee that the old farts won't decide to execute me? Will gramps even stand up to them for me? Honestly, Hueco Mundo feels safer for me as I am now."

Silence descended upon the room.

"If Central 46 orders to execute you, then a civil war will break out in Soul Society, something we'd rather not have." Toshiro replied.

Rukia grimaced but she already knew what she would do. She'd fight tooth and nail for Ichigo and abandon Soul Society with him to Hueco Mundo if necessary. _I'm not leaving him again. _

Ichigo sighed and replied. "Fine." He then stared Byakuya down and said, "If shit hits the fan, then I'm gonna _**rip the spines of gramps and the old farts. Got it?**_"

Byakuya stiffly nodded.

* * *

The doors to the meeting hall opened and Ichigo stepped in behind Byakuya while the other captains and lieutenants stood in their positions. Shinji, Kensei and Rose nodded at him in greeting and he nodded back at them.

_They don't seem surprised. _Either that or they hid their surprise well.

"Welcome back, Kurosaki Ichigo." The old man spoke up from his position at the opposite end of the room.

"Thanks." Ichigo nodded.

"I see you… changed. Mind explaining?"

Ichigo nodded and began. "After I died in Rukia's lap…" said girl (woman? She's 150 years old) blushed from her position behind a smiling Ukitake. "…I woke up in my inner world before being punched by Hollow Zangetsu." Everyone sweat dropped. Kurotsuchi perked up at hearing about Hollow Zangetsu and was about to speak up before stopping from being glared at by the captain commander. "We spoke for a short time before he kicked me down to the deeper parts of my soul where I found Tensa Zangetsu wrapped in chains. However, that Tensa Zangetsu wasn't real. That poor mimicry of Tensa Zangetsu simply contained my latent hollow powers and after I absorbed them, well I became a Vasto Lorde class hollow." He stopped before pointing at his horn, eyes and the marks. The old man nodded and continued. "I jumped back to the top and engaged into a fight with Hollow Zangetsu where I learnt a lot about myself and got a better understanding of my powers. We fought for some time while on the outside world Zangetsu was fighting Ginjo and killed him. Zangetsu then grabbed Ginjo's Fullbring and absorbed both mine and his. After the fight concluded, Zangetsu dropped Ginjo's body before telepo-err sonidoing further into the forest before stabbing himself with Ginjo's Fullbring absorbing it and thus evolved and became times more powerful. I took over and then flew over above Rukia and the others. From there we talked a bit and then I became an arrancar. Then Tsukishima appeared and I split him in two. That bastard Urahara can't even make me a gigai as I am now. So I either have to stay in Soul Society or move to Hueco Mundo. That's all."

Absolute silence descended upon them all while the captain commander and Ichigo stared each other in the eyes not backing down. CC's judging stare met Ichigo's defiant one. The stare-down went on for a few minutes neither party blinking even once.

CC sighed and said, "As much I would like to have you in Soul Society…"

"Impossible!" Sui-Feng shouted only to be glared into silence by the CC.

CC continued, "…I sadly can't do it. I suppose you know why?" He received a sigh and nod from Ichigo. "I already have committed treason by granting them permission to return your powers and I can't do it again. I'm sorry."

Ichigo's eyebrows shot up to his hairline in surprise while everyone gaped at the CC. _I guess he changed a bit. _

"Speaking of which, what happened to the asauchi containing your powers?"

Ichigo simply pulled out the sheathed sword on his hip and held it by his side. While the hilt and guard was the same, the blade wasn't. It was longer in length, as long as a tachi and was jet black with an outer edge of blue while a red line ran along the length of the flat side of the blade. The chain dangling from the buttend of the hilt was blood red in color.

"Urahara had me absorb all the reiatsu in the asauchi when I became an arrancar. So I guess it's mine now." Ichigo said sheathing the sword back. "So yeah, I'm half shinigami half hollow with the hollow powers being the dominant one unlike my past Visord self."

_No way in hell am I telling them that I'm part shinigami and Quincy along with being a hollow. _

Another staring match started between the CC and Ichigo increasing the tension in the atmosphere. Ukitake was about to step in only for Ichigo to snark. "You know gramps, it's rude to stare at others." He grinned widely.

Everyone's jaw dropped.

"_Do you have a death wish?!" _Shinji hissed at him.

The CC's eyebrow twitched in annoyance before he sighed and slumped in his chair. "I'm too old for this shit." His reply caused Shunsui and Ichigo to burst out laughing while everyone gaped at him. He abruptly straightened up and spoke up. "I'm afraid you will have to go to Hueco Mundo Kurosaki Ichigo or Central 46…"

"…will order my execution." Ichigo finished for him nodding. "Understood." He heard Byakuya sigh in relief and cracked a smile. "You wouldn't mind if I drop by sometimes would you?" He smirked when Byakuya silently groaned.

CC shook his head and said, "Be discreet when you do."

Sui-Feng's jaw dropped. She was about to protest only for Unohana to flash her iconic smile at her. She shut up and crossed her arms with a scowl on her face.

"Dismissed." The CC ordered tapping his cane on the ground before leaving the hall.

"_That went better than expected did it not?"_ A female voice said in his mind.

Ichigo mentally nodded at his now new zanpakuto spirit. _Yeah. And it was fun watching Byakuya stay stiff and twitch for the entirety of the meeting. _He received a chuckle from the spirit.

"Ichigo?" He looked down at Rukia who called out to him. "Are you really alright with it? What about your sisters?" Rukia said frowning.

Ichigo sighed and slouched. "I'll have Urahara manage something. Anyways, I'm leaving. The earlier I do, the lesser the problems there will be."

"Where will you go?" Rukia hurriedly asked trotting behind Ichigo.

"I'll drop at Urahara's first, beat my old man down to the ground, leave a letter for my sisters and leave. You wanna come?"

Rukia hesitated to answer and she glanced at Byakuya who nodded at her and flashed away. "Alright let's go."

Ichigo smiled and sonidoed away to the Senkaimon grabbing Rukia as he did so making her yelp. He laughed as the two of them landed before the Senkaimon. Rukia was on her butt. She jumped to her feet and kicked Ichigo on the shin only to yelp in pain.

"What the hell are you made of idiot!?"

"Hierro."

"Oh."

"Yes 'oh'. Now come."

* * *

"Well, this is interesting."

"What is interesting your majesty?"

"My son born in darkness has finally awakened his Quincy powers or rather, separated it from the shinigami brew. What do you think Haschwalt?"

"Shouldn't it be impossible for a Quincy to be alive with Hollow reiatsu running through them?"

"Before he could even go into soul suicide, he absorbed the reiatsu stored in the sword thus bringing a perfect balance in his soul." Yhwach grinned widely. _Grow. Grow more. You're merely a pebble on the side of the road. Become a mountain that I'll have fun blowing up to pieces! _

"Hahahahaha!"


	2. Revelations

**Author's note:** **I'm sorry for the delay. I've got IAL exams this month. In fact I have two more remaining this month on 22nd and 23rd. And I'm sorry for the bad quality of this chapter. Did it in a rush.**

* * *

_"Zanpakuto"_

**"Ichigo in Resurreccion"**

"Talking"

_Thinking_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Revelations**

The atmosphere was tense in the room.

Ichigo and Rukia has returned from Soul Society with the latter accompanying the former. Immediately upon arriving in the underground training room, Ichigo had climbed up the ladder and immediately _ordered _Urahara to call his father.

The man ever so carefree cheerfully replied in affirmative, not willing to miss out on a drama and told them to wait in the living room. Minutes after settling down, Isshin appeared in his shinigami garb, the captain's haori slightly fluttering with every movement as the man sat on the cushion opposite to his son.

Rukia sat diagonally to the left of Ichigo while Urahara himself was sitting in one corner of the room with his eyes shadowed by the hat and face covered by the fan.

Tessai had immediately left the room once he placed the tea and snacks receiving a thanks in return from Ichigo.

Yoruichi was curled up beside Urahara with eyes closed and ear twitching indicating that she was paying attention to the meeting between father and son.

Isshin and Ichigo stared each other in the eyes casually sipping tea. Isshin's black eyes against Ichigo's own heterochromia eyes.

Ichigo placed the tea cup on the table and sighed. "So? When were you planning on telling me that you're a _Shiba_? When were you going to tell me that Kukaku, Ganju and Kaien are my cousins? _When _were you going to tell me that mom was a Quincy?" Ichigo leveled a glare at his father as he uttered the 'Quincy' word.

Isshin's eyes flew open wide and he recoiled in surprise.

Rukia gasped as she realized Ichigo was a hybrid of all three races. _He didn't tell it in the meeting!_ She made eye contact with Ichigo and got a nod from him. _So he's a true hybrid…_ She didn't know how to react to the news. _I guess that explains his rapid growth. _

On the other side of the room Urahara and Yoruichi made eye contact with each other and smirked. _The cat's out of the bag._ They thought simultaneously. They knew Ichigo would bring up the matter of his origins.

"Well?" Ichigo asked not letting his glare drop.

"Ichigo, I uh…" Isshin was at a loss of words. He was expecting Ichigo to talk about his living conditions. He couldn't get close to the twins without the risk of _disintegrating _them to death. But…he didn't expect _this. _"Who told you this?"

The others perked up at the question and visibly flinched when Ichigo's face formed a snarl.

**"Don't dodge the question you piece of shit. Who told me matters not. What matters is why the fuck you didn't tell me this."** Ichigo sighed. "I know I told you that I'd give you the time to come clean with me. But 17 months have passed by and yet you didn't approach me about my origins." He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Rukia when she got close to him and wrapped her arms around him leaning her head on his shoulder. He got the message: 'I am here'.

Ichigo snarled at Isshin who kept his head down in shame.

"I know you're a pitiful person…" Isshin winced. "…but this…this is way over the top dad. Just how _desperate _are you to keep your secrets?" Ichigo sagged in on Rukia. "You knew that the moment I drove Sode no Shirayuki through my heart that I became a shinigami. Days turned into weeks and then turned into months yet you goofed on _pretending_ that you didn't know I was a shinigami. You were perfectly aware through Urahara that I nearly _died_ many times, yet you didn't say anything." He noticed Rukia leveling a chilling glare at his father and smiled. "You only bothered showing up moments before Aizen was about to kill me and then you have the audacity to _headbutt _me!"

Rukia didn't know whether to laugh at that or pull out Sode no Shirayuki and drive it through Isshin. So she simply set on leveling a deadpan stare at Isshin.

Isshin just sat there listening to Ichigo vent out on him. He has the right to do so. One can only be patient for some time. Not forever.

"And then there's the captains. Bastards never bothered using their bankai and had rely on _me_ to defeat Aizen at the cost of sacrificing a part of my _soul._" Ichigo sighed looking a decade older than he was. "Then there's this whole Fullbring fiasco. The moment Ginjo approached you could have come clear with me. But _no!_ You didn't. You let me get played around and used like a chess piece _again._" He drank his cup of tea and sighed again. "At this rate I can conclude that you want to get _rid _of me by keeping me in the dark and get me killed."

"No! I would never do that!" For the first time Isshin spoke up for himself. "I'd ne-"

"Never what? Never let me die? Let me guess. You were planning to let _Yhwach _reveal the fact that my mother was a Quincy and was the reason she was defenseless against Grand Fisher weren't you? I'd be shell shocked and Yhwach would either kill me or brainwash me into joining him. Only then would you try to come clear with me. Wouldn't you have that Isshin _Shiba_?" Ichigo finished pointing an accusing finger at Isshin.

"I-I only wanted to protect you Ichigo. I promised Masaki that." Isshin said with his head in his hands looking miserable.

**"Bullshit."**

Isshin looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Bull-fucking-shit. You're too prideful to admit that you're a coward. That's why you're telling me that. While believable at its own rights, it's a weak excuse. If you were going to protect me, then you would've come clean with me since day one and trained me. You didn't. Am I wrong?" He turned to Urahara and Yoruichi. "What do you guys think?"

Said people looked at each other and nodded at him. "You're correct." Isshin shot them a betrayed look. Yoruichi began, "Don't look at us like that Isshin. You brought this upon yourself. I told you to come clear to him but you didn't listen." Yoruichi then looked at Ichigo and asked, "Though I have to ask who told you this? And who's Yhwach?"

"Zangetsu and Kyoka Suigetsu told me the truth from their perspective. As for Yhwach, ask Urahara and Isshin." Isshin flinched when Ichigo called him by his name instead of 'dad' or 'goat-chin'.

"Wait a sec! How did you talk with Kyoka Suigetsu?" Rukia asked in bewilderment.

"She's been a part of me since the fight between me and Aizen ended. Don't worry. She's not Kyoka Suigetsu anymore. She's different. My new zanpakuto spirit is a mix of the remains of both Zangetsus and Kyoka Suigetsu."

"So your new zanpakuto spirit is a female." Rukia said crossing her arms.

"_Oho? Someone's jealous."_ Said spirit piped in in Ichigo's mind.

Ichigo incredulously looked at her and said, "You're jealous!"

"I am not!" Rukia snapped back.

"Who's Yhwach again?" Yoruichi asked looking at Urahara and Isshin. "And what do you mean by revealing that Masaki was a Quincy? He a legend or something?"

Urahara and Isshin sighed.

"He's the Quincy King. The father of all Quincies. His blood runs through every single Quincy alive. And he's returning from his 1000 year slumber within this year probably." Ichigo said. "This time he's coming for vengeance. Yama-ji failed to kill him a millennia ago. Then there's this Quincy folklore: 'After 900 years of being sealed, he would regain his pulse; after another 90, he would regain his intellect; after 9 more years, he would absorb the power of every _impure_ Quincy. And after 9 days he would regain the world.'" Ichigo looked at them with hardened eyes. "The war will last a total of nine days. Within those nine days, he and his army of Quincies will slaughter anyone that will stand against him. His target is to kill the Soul King and change the entire world's structure and its machinations. Though what he'll do is unknown." Grave silence fell upon the room.

Urahara had his face shadowed and face covered by his hat and fan. Yoruichi was sitting wide eyed and probably with her brain running at shunpo speeds trying to decipher what she heard. Isshin sat quietly fearing the worst and Rukia's brain shut down with eyes blank and mouth open wide.

"Then how come you and Uryu have your powers?" Yoruichi asked.

"Uryu is not even worth a glance for Yhwach as he is now…"

"Now?"

"…he'll become strong only if he drinks Yhwach's blood and gets an epithet assigned to him and even then his boost would depend on the epithet he's given. As for me, well I'm the other side of the coin."

"Then…" Urahara began. "…you're his shinigami counterpart and can bestow powers like him."

Ichigo stared at him for a couple of seconds before answering, "Yes and no. I'm his Hybrid counterpart. I can bestow my powers to _anyone _while he can bestow powers to _only _Quincies."

"Just how powerful are you Ichigo?" Rukia asked in disbelief. "And why didn't you tell captain commander about this upcoming war?"

"I haven't reached my prime yet and do you really think he would believe me if I told him an enemy long thought and _believed _dead is alive and coming for vengeance?"

"…no. I don't think so."

"Exactly." Ichigo then turned towards Isshin and glared. "And _you_." Isshin flinched. "You will tell Karin and Yuzu every single word spoken in the last hour and come clean with them. Am I clear?" Seeing as Isshin was about to protest, Ichigo lowered his reiatsu to readable levels and pressed down on Isshin causing him to gasp. **"Am I clear to you?"**

Isshin nodded rapidly and coughed up blood when the pressure let up. "A-Alright. I will."

"Think you can keep an eye on him for me Yoruichi?" Ichigo said glancing at the cat. He narrowed his eyes when Yoruichi's eyes shifted towards the pleading Isshin before shifting back to him.

"Alright. Let me wear my gigai first." She slid open the door and walked away to another room. In the silence they heard her open the door followed by shuffling sound and pink smoke. A minute later Yoruichi joined them in her usual attire and leaned on the doorway with crossed arms.

Ichigo nodded at her and looked at Isshin. "Well?"

Isshin hastily stood up and left the room with Yoruichi behind him.

"I warned you that this day would come soon if you don't open up Isshin." They heard Yoruichi say before the two of them flashed towards the Kurosaki household.

Silence descended upon the remaining three as each of them were having their own thoughts.

Rukia turned to Ichigo. "What are you gonna do now Ichigo?"

Ichigo stayed silent for a few seconds knowing that Urahara was also keeping an eye on him. "As much as I'd like to hang out with you, I can't as no one knows when the war will begin. I also need to get back into form and master my Resurreccion as soon as possible before it's too late."

Rukia gave an understanding nod.

"And Rukia. Only tell this to Ukitake, Kyoraku, Byakuya, Toshiro and Unohana. The oldest ones might believe you and in extension, me. So approach Unohana first and then Kyoraku. Or if possible, tell the three of them about Yhwach together."

Rukia nodded and stood up. "Then it's best if I leave now."

"…yeah."

"When are you leaving Ichigo?"

"In a week."

Rukia nodded and climbed down the ladder immediately opening a Senkaimon returning to Soul Society.

Seeing Rukia leave, Ichigo eyed Urahara. "What do you think will happen in this war Urahara?"

Urahara grinned that obnoxious grin of his and cheerily said, "Bloodshed. That's what will happen."

Ichigo sighed. "Yeah. Considering how _weak _this generation of shinigami are compared to the first generation of _monsters_, I doubt many will survive this war. And this time…"

"…Soul Society is as good as destroyed." Urahara finished for him with a grimace. "Well not like it matters!" He returned back to his cheerful self fully enjoying seeing Ichigo's eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "Since you're going to Hueco Mundo, you'll need a medium to keep in contact with me wouldn't you? After all, only I can give you Soul Society's status."

Ichigo nodded. "I take it you already have something prepared?"

"Of course I do! Being the humblest shopkeeper of the world I must always be aware of my customers' needs!" He pulled out a smartphone out of his shikakusho sleeves and threw it Ichigo. "That will let you keep in contact with me no matter where you are! Even if you're falling through the lovely space that is Garganta! Too bad I can't help you there, teehee!" His grin widened as he spoke the last sentence.

Ichigo huffed and pocketed the device in his own sleeves. "Mind if I use the training ground?"

"Only if you let me see what you do!" Ichigo rolled his eyes. He knew that the 'shopkeeper' wouldn't mind if he used the basement even if he didn't ask for permission. He stood up and dusted his clothes. "Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go." And he sunk into his shadow laughing as he saw Urahara's dumbstruck expression.

* * *

Rukia understood well the responsibility and trust that Ichigo has placed on her. She carried grave news and the oldest captains are the only ones to be made aware of first and then a course of action that would be wise would be taken.

That's why she walked towards her captain's quarters with grace and seriousness that prevented others from gossiping with her. As she reached her captain's quarters, she saw the third seat duo getting out of the office with a bow. They turned in her direction and straightened up.

"Welcome back lieutenant Kuchiki!" Both of them greeted/shouted at her.

Before the two of them could start fighting, Rukia interrupted with a question. "Is the captain busy now?"

The two answered at once. "Captain Kyoraku is keeping him company!"

Rukia sighed. "Is it something important they are talking about?" She was answered in negative. "Thanks." The two of saluted her and ran away to their businesses fighting each other. "Those two never stops." She sighed and knocked on the door before opening it. "Captain Ukitake? May I come in?" She pokes her head into the room and noticed captain Kyoraku sprawled on the couch. _Nanao's so gonna be pissed. _"Hello there captain Kyoraku."

"Come in! Come in! How was your trip to the world of the living with Ichigo-kun?" Ukitake cheerfully asked only to lose his smile when she grimaced and entered the room nervously. "Is something wrong?" He noticed Kyoraku eyeing Rukia who was slightly fidgeting in nervousness.

"Captain…"

"If it is something private I can come later Rukia-chan." Kyoraku said getting up.

"No! Actually it's good that both of you are here. Ichigo revealed some important matters and told me to pass them on to you two, Captain Unohana, nii-sama and Captain Hitsugaya."

Both captains exchanged looks with each other and straightened up. _What's so important that got her so nervous?_

Rukia took a deep breath and said, "Yhwach the Quincy King will return some time this year." Silence descended into the room with both captains stunned into disbelief. "Ichigo didn't reveal it in the meeting because he doubted the CC would believe him, that's why Ichigo told me to pass this on to you two." She looked at the two captains' stunned faces and paled when she realized it was true. "Ichigo is a true hybrid. Son of a shinigami Captain and Captain Class Quincy corrupted with hollow essence. His Quincy blood manifestation told him all of it."

Seconds passed by and the captains pulled themselves out of their stunned disbelief.

"No wonder he wanted you tell this to us first…" Kyoraku said sitting straighter with an aura of seriousness rarely seen in him.

Ukitake grimaced and said, "Sensei wouldn't have believed Ichigo-kun if he really had told us about this in the meeting."

"He's right. Good job telling us this first Rukia-chan. And since you're already aware of it, do you want to accompany us to Squad four?" Kyoraku said with an 'Hmm'.

Rukia nodded and stepped aside letting the two captains exit before flash stepping towards squad four as a group.

"Just how much of a threat is this Yhwach, captain?"

Ukitake looked at her over his shoulder answered. "Enough to kill all of the first generation of shinigami save for captain Unohana before falling to the might of the CC. And that was a millennia ago."

"He was Soul Society's worst nightmare and will be once again. I fear we'll lose this time badly."

Rukia grimaced at captain Kyoraku's words.

"Once this discussion is over, I suggest you start training Rukia-chan. Start training for bankai." Ukitake said as the group of three landed in front of Squad Four.

Rukia looked at the familiar building again and sighed. _This is gonna be a long day._

* * *

Karin simply felt lost at the moment. Nearly two hours ago her father left the house and then returned with a purple haired lady.

She asked where her Ichi-nii was and was told that it was about him. Her gut twisted with dread. Was it related to those shinigami? Nonetheless she called Yuzu and sat on the couch opposite to their father. The purple haired lady leaned against the wall stoically keeping an eye on her father.

Then the bastard revealed the secrets he kept hidden all these years about their origin, what they were, what their _mother _and _brother _were in truth. She then learnt about the world her brother had spent quite some time in and became the mess that he was for the last 17 months. She had some ideas about that world but now? She was _disgusted _at how horrible that place was.

And then came the _war_ that their brother played a major role in and _sacrificed _his _soul_ for only to be thrown aside once he was useless to them. And 17 months later they have the guts to return his power talking about paying back a debt. _Bullshit. _They have been using him as long as they could from what she can conclude. And… _Such a cruel place is the afterlife?_ She's rather be a hollow than be a part of that place.

She kept a straight face holding back her emotions when the bastard explained what happened to their brother. What their brother had become and what would happen if they even got close to him. _Death by disintegration. _Her sister on the other hand was a mess since the beginning. Poor Yuzu, such a kind and sweet girl was told about the horrors about the unknown, about what they weren't allowed to know.

Once he was done telling them, the purple haired lady disappeared with a soft swish sound leaving a small gust of wind behind. But Karin didn't care. She was too shocked to comprehend it. Yuzu has cried herself to sleep now tightly hugging her. Karin then softly gathered Yuzu in her arms and stood up leaving the _creature _that was their father. The _thing _noticed them leave yet did nothing.

"Why did you tell us this now?" Karin softly asked not wanting to wake Yuzu up.

"…Ichigo told me to do so."

She tsked and walked up the stairs heading to their room. She needed time to process everything she learnt, comfort her sister and then think of the next step.

_Goddamit!_

* * *

Isshin knew it would be ugly telling the twins about the afterlife. Specially Yuzu. But it was necessary. So he told them. Told them everything important and kept an eye on their reactions. He expected Yuzu to cry but Karin? He definitely didn't expect the straight face. He saw her twitch sometimes wishing to hit him but didn't. It scared him how calm she was throughout the explanation. And when it ended, he was expecting her to hit him and yell but instead, she softly picked her twin up and walked towards the stair. She stopped at its base and glanced at him over her shoulder. He didn't look back at her. He was too much of a coward to face her.

"Why did you tell us this now?" That's a question he definitely didn't expect but remained still nonetheless. She spoke softly not wanting to wake her twin but it was a slap to face when he felt the amount of hurt, longing and hate in her voice.

Without looking he answered, "…Ichigo told me to do so."

He didn't receive any reply. She simply headed up to their room to do who knows what. After a few minutes, he sagged and leaned back into the couch.

_I'm so pathetic. I'm sorry Masaki. I failed to protect them. I'm sorry._

* * *

Ichigo definitely wasn't expecting to see Karin at Urahara's shop two days later in the morning. And definitely not what she asked.

"Where's Ichi-nii?"

Ichigo stepped out of the room and headed towards the entrance creating a separate dimension around him to protect her.

"I'm here Karin." He called out to her completely expecting her to widen her eyes in fear. She did widen her eyes but more in shock than fear.

"Ichi-nii?" She asked tentatively raising a hand fearing that she would lose sight of him.

He raised a hand stopping her from coming close to him. "I'm sorry Karin but I can't let you touch me. You'll die." Karin scowled dropping her hand. "Follow me. I know you have a lot to ask. So we might as well get comfortable." He turned around and walked towards the room he was staying in. He briefly stopped at the kitchen. "Tessai-san, bring some tea would you?"

"Of course Ichigo-dono. I'm bringing it in a few minutes." Ichigo nodded and continued walking to his room. He opened it and entered it keeping the door open for Karin to enter.

He sat on one of the cushions and signed Karin to sit opposite to him.

"Well? What are you going to ask?"

"So you're not coming back, are you?" She stated instead of asking.

"No. I can't return. Even now I'm maintaining a dimension around me just to talk with you. I can't keep it up for forever. And making a gigai for someone like me is out of Urahara's ability. Or else I would've been with you at home now."

Karin nodded. Tessai entered the room and placed the tea and snacks before leaving with a bow. Karin noticed the familiar black cat under the window sleeping.

Ichigo saw her take a sip of tea before asking, "I have a feeling something bad is about to happen." She stated. He raised an eyebrow.

"Isshin didn't tell you?" Karin bristled at the words cracking the tea cup slightly. "There's a war coming up. And the Winter War wouldn't even compare to this one."

"That bastard didn't tell us." She gritted out in anger. "How dare he!"

"Probably because he expects you to want to join this time." Ichigo nonchalantly said leaving Karin dumbfounded.

"HELL NO!" She slammed her hands on the table in anger startling Yoruichi who was glaring at her. "Like hell I'll join the war! Soul Society can burn for all I care! I just want to live in peace!" She panted. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I was expecting that." He took a sip of his tea and stared at her. "What do you want to do now? Only Karakura will be endangered in the upcoming war. Karakura and its neighboring towns."

"I-I want to leave this town and go somewhere safe. I don't want to be a part of this mess. But I don't even have the money to leave. Nor am I of the age to take a part time job. What should I do Ichi-nii?" It hurt Ichigo to see Karin so weak and broken. Hopeless.

Ichigo sighed and called out. "Urahara!"

The door slammed open startling Karin as said person stood in the doorway grinning like a fool.

"I have the solution to that!" The man cheerfully said pulling out three pills.

"…candies…?" Karin asked bewildered.

Ichigo snorted. "Nah. They are mod souls. If you wanna leave the town, then Urahara has the perfect town and house ready for you. Did Yuzu agree to it?"

"It's 50-50. But I'll convince her. But what will those mod souls do?"

"They will protect you and be your guardians in that town." Ichigo nodded at Urahara who pulled out three small human like but blank gigais. He put the pills in them and laid them on the ground.

Karin watched as the three gigais twitched and slowly started changing shape.

The first one was definitely a female. She had a body similar to Yoruichi but different attributes. She had pale peach flawless skin. Cobalt blue hair that reached down to her waist. Her eyes were of the same color as the hair. She stood at a good 5'8" height. She was naked at first and then once she stood up, a French maid uniform formed around her. She blinked and bowed to them.

"Greetings. I'm Trisha the maid. I'll be doing the household chores and am well versed in Hakuda."

"Sit." Ichigo ordered and the maid followed his orders.

The second body was also done changing. It was a male wearing a butler uniform. He had shoulder length silver hair and red eyes. His skin was a shade darker than Trisha's and he was sporting a gentle and warm smile. He had a lean and muscular body like Ichigo's own and was 5'11" tall. He bowed and said, "I'm Nex the Butler. I'm well versed in Hakudo and Zanjutsu along with firearms."

"Sit."

The third figure was also a male and was wearing a grey tuxedo. His skin tone was a shade lighter than Yoruichi's and appeared a bit bulkier than Ichigo. He stood at 6'3" towering over everyone in the room with black hair and yellow eyes. "I am Ichijo and a business man. I'm well versed in Hakuda and firearms along with swords." He was surprisingly soft spoken and kind despite his appearance.

"Sit." The man nodded and joined the other two. Ichigo looked at Karin who was dumbfounded at the development and smirked before schooling his features into a soft smile. "They will be your guardians in that town. You won't have to worry about money because Ichijo will get that covered. Nex and Trisha will look after you and provide you with daily necessities."

Karin looked at the trio and received warm smiles from them. _I guess they will do. _She looked back at her brother and nodded. "Alright. When do we leave? The sooner we do the better."

Ichigo nodded and smirked. "Tomorrow ASAP. If Yuzu disagrees then tell her that I requested her to leave. It's for your own good. And tell her I'm sorry."

Karin sighed and nodded. "I will. Will you drop by tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Karin stood up and walked out of the room nodding at the inhabitants. She paused before glancing at her brother.

"By the way… where exactly are we moving to? What about our school?"

Ichigo smirked and said, "You're going to Chiba. You'll be attending a prestigious middle school there and then high school on _scholarship._"

Karin smirked back and left with a thumbs up.

"You three get ready as well."

The mod souls nodded and left the room.

* * *

It was in the same day evening that he was joined by his friends in the living room creating an awkward and anxious silence around them.

Uryu pretty much having an idea on what this was about took the backseat leaning against a wall between Ichigo and Chad and Orihime.

Orihime couldn't even look at Ichigo, so scared she was of him. Such _fear_…though it's understandable considering what such a sweet girl had gone through in a matter of a few months. She had been sitting tensely since the beginning.

Chad was silently staring at Ichigo trying to decipher whether it was the feared inner hollow or his brother sitting in front of him. He nodded understanding that it was his brother and sat quietly with a relaxed posture which brought a smile to Ichigo's face.

"I guess I should explain what happened to me and don't even try to apologize. You've done nothing wrong and you were being controlled. So it's fine." Ichigo initiated. Orihime tensely nodded and Chad grunted. "I've become a mix of arrancar and shinigami. 50/50 with my hollow side being the dominant side unlike my visored self months ago. This happened because hollow Zangetsu and I merged to become Zangetsu and _Ichigo Kurosaki _at the same time. We are one and the same." Ichigo glanced at Uryu and held his gaze for a few moments before receiving a nod from him. "At the moment I'm like Aizen. A transcendent being and as such I've created a special dimension around me so as not to kill you." Orihime flinched and Chad frowned. "Therefore within the next few days I'll be leaving to Hueco Mundo."

Chad startled and stared at Ichigo with wide eyes. And Orihime froze not knowing how to react.

"Can't Urahara-san create a gigai for you?" Chad asked.

"No. Gigai's weren't designed to hold people like me. It would disintegrate before I even touch it. Such is the density of my reiatsu."

Chad nodded and sighed.

"I'm sorry Chad. I really am. But fate is a bitch and see what happened." Ichigo shrugged. "Inoue." He gently called out. "Please let Tatsuki know what happened. Okay?" Orihime curtly nodded.

Chad stood up and extended a hand towards Ichigo. "See you Ichigo."

Orihime stood up and waved at Ichigo. "S-See you K-Kurosaki-kun."

The two of them left leaving Ichigo and Uryu behind.

"You didn't tell them." Uryu accused.

"I didn't tell them." Ichigo replied.

"Why?"

"Inoue is scarred as of now because of…" Ichigo gestures to his left side of his face and the hole in his chest. "…me. So I don't think pulling her into this war that is far more dangerous than the Winter War is a wise idea. As for Chad…" Ichigo paused squinting his eyes. "…if he gets involved then so will Inoue. A chain reaction I'd rather avoid." He then looked at Uryu dead in the eye and said, "I'm pretty sure you _won't _tell them about it considering you're going to on the Quincy side. **Am I right?**"

Uryu adjusted his glasses and stiffly nodded. "Of course I won't. I'm not going to endanger their lives and sanity for a war on of this caliber." He then nodded and stood up. "See you Kurosaki."

"In the battlefield." Ichigo said as Uryu left the room.

_Here's to hoping you can do what you're aiming to do Uryu. If old man Zangetsu was anything to go by, then Yhwach will be a nightmare._

* * *

**Once again sorry for the quality of the chapter.**


	3. Moving Out

**Author's note:**** Sorry for the delay. Had to brainstorm a lot to write this chapter and even then I had trouble writing this chapter. Not the best but nor the worst. **

* * *

_"Zanpakuto"_

_**"Ichigo in Resurreccion"**_

"Talking"

_Thinking_

* * *

**Chapter 3: Moving Out**

"Have you packed up everything you need?"

"Yes."

"Good. Karin, stay out of trouble if you can-"

"Hey!"

"-and Yuzu, call Urahara or Chad or Yoruichi if there's any problem. Though calling Tatsuki and Chad will be better than the other two as the war is coming up."

"Will you be alright Ichi-nii?"

"Of course I will! Who do you think I am?"

"Someone who got his ass handed to him?"

"Karin!"

"Okay! Okay! Calm down you two." _***sigh***_ "Okay get moving. The sooner you get there the better. It is a long journey after all."

"Bye Ichi-nii! Urahara-san! Yoruichi-san! Chad!"

* * *

"Well, let's see what awaits me in Hueco Mundo."

"Careful Ichigo, don't do something stupid."

"Oh shut it midget. If Grimmjow and I come across then that bastard will be the one to do something stupid."

"Say hi to Nelliel for me!"

"Yeah yeah whatever!"

"Good luck Ichigo."

"Thanks Chad."

"Call me if you need something Kurosaki-san~!"

* * *

Riding on the flow of reishi created below his feet across the sands of Hueco Mundo, Ichigo headed towards what remained of Las Noches from which several energy signatures could be detected. In fact, a familiar energy signature was heading towards the same direction as him, albeit ahead of him.

Switching from Hirenkyaku to Shunpo, he blurred towards the energy signature heading in the same direction as him. As he zoomed towards the energy signature he finally caught a clear glimpse of the figure. He grinned. _Grimmjow!_

"_And you promised you wouldn't do something stupid."_ His spirit said rolling her eyes.

_Oh hush you._

"_Let's properly greet him shall we, master?"_

_You bet! _

Gathering reiatsu between his thumb and middle finger he formed a small red sphere of energy. Taking aim, he flicked it at Grimmjow.

_***BOOM!***_

Poor cat noticed it at the last moment and was hit square in the face throwing him off track crashing into the sand dunes. It didn't take time for him to jump out of the sand dune he crashed in screaming profanities.

"WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT!? HUUUUH!? SHOW YOURSELVES YOU BASTARD!"

_***BUZZ***_

Hearing the familiar sound of Sonido behind him he swung his fist-

"Yo Grimmjow…been a while…"

-only for the fist to be caught by someone he had been intending to kill for the last 17 months. His eyes widened as the kicked up sand fell to reveal someone else.

His assailant was wearing black overcoat and hakama, white obi and had the red tufts of fur around the collar and sleeve ends and was on bare foot. The left side of his face had two black lines that joined with the ones on his chest at the neck. A horn was protruding from his left temple. His left eye had black sclera and golden yellow iris with three black rims while his right eye was crimson with three black rims. On his waist was a zanpakuto sheathed in a red sheath with its chain wrapped around it.

Grimmjow snarled and yanked his fist out of his assailant's grip. "Who the fuck are you bastard?! How'd ya know my name?!" he jumped back and created space between them.

Ichigo frowned and asked, "Do you have amnesia or something Grimmjow? It's me Ichigo Kurosaki." He smirked. "The one who defeated you."

Grimmjow's eyes widened as he was finally able to realize that it really was Ichigo before him. "What the fuck happened to you?!"

Ichigo shrugged. "Died. Became a Vasto Lorde and then became an arrancar." Ichigo smirked. "Why? Am I too _scary _for the _pussycat_ in front of me?" If it was his 15 year old self, Ichigo wouldn't have goaded Grimmjow like this into a fight. But hey! It's fun pissing off people!

Grimmjow snarled. "Haaaaaa?! What was that Kurosaki?! _Me_ scared of _you_? Don't make me laugh!"

Pocketing his hands Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "So you admit that you're a pussycat?" he laughed when Grimmjow growled. "Oh my god! You're funny!" he ducked as Grimmjow swiped at his head with his zanpakuto and jumped back. "Oh~? Is the kitty pissed?" Ichigo mocked grinning as Grimmjow became even more furious. _He's too easy._

"You bastard! Take this!" Grimmjow raised his palm towards Ichigo and charged up a cero. "Cero!"

Ichigo stopped the large beam of energy with his hand and condensed it into a ball before sending it zooming towards Las Noches. "You call that a cero?"

_***BOOOOOM***_

Grimmjow stared dumbfounded as he watched Ichigo stop his cero, form it into a ball before throwing it aside. _What the fuck?_

"What's wrong Grimmjow? Cat got your tongue?" Ichigo frowned. "Don't tell me you've been sitting ducks like this. _You're so weak!_"

Grimmjow froze. _Weak. Weak. Weak. WEak. WEak. WEAk. WEAk. WEAK! HOW DARE HE CALL ME WEAK!? _Grimmjow snarled and held his zanpakuto up, like the start of a low sweep stroke, with his right hand. The sword glowed light blue as he put his left hand up to it. He then raked his hand along the length of the blade with a swift motion while calling out its release command releasing a torrent of reiatsu that created tremendous gusts of wind in the immediate vicinity. "**GRIND, PANTERA**!" Once the torrent of reiatsu and large gusts of wind died down, Grimmjow stood lightly hunched over in his resurreccion.

Ichigo stood several feet away watching Grimmjow glare at him. "That's it?"

Grimmjow smirked as thick dark blue reiatsu poured out of him. "Weak you say?" He said as more reiatsu poured out of him. He grinned when he saw Ichigo's eyes widen. "I'll show you weak. **Resurreccion: Segunda Etapa**!" The dark blue reiatsu spun around Grimmjow before encasing him in a large dark blue pillar.

Ichigo raised his arm to block his face from the wild wind and sand exploding everywhere around the pillar. He grinned. _Heh…he too got a Segunda Etapa huh?_

"_Does it matter, master? He's still weak and nowhere near your level."_

_Even so, let's see what he has in store for us._

The pillar cracked and shattered revealing Grimmjow with no traces of his hollow mask. His appearance still resembled his feline-humanoid form of Pantera. His blue hair lengthened, becoming vibrant white, blending down in a patterned blue and black gradient near the end of his hair. At the crest of his head, the white blended to black, and his eyebrows set aflame, burning black with a vivid blue outline. From his torso to his calves, Grimmjow was covered in white fur that was both striped with black and speckled with black; the white fur itself blended into black near his feet, which stretch into feline paws with vicious claws, as well as a sickle-like appendage on both ankles. Both arms were covered in similar fur, with his hands being covered in black fur and the same horrible claws as his feet. His former single tail has split into two, and is ablaze with flame in the same way as his forehead.

_Cool._

"So whaddya think about this Kurosaki?" Grimmjow said flexing his claws.

"Hmm…" Ichigo narrowed his eyes and asked, "Does all Segunda Etapas equal to being as naked as possible?"

"…"

"…"

"…Kurosaki…" Grimmjow growled knowing that he was being made fun of by Ichigo. "…are you making fun of me?!" He lunged at Ichigo covering the distance between them in a split second surprising Ichigo.

Ichigo barely managed to bend back dodging the lunge as Grimmjow went passed overhead of him. "Wait! No! I mean Ulquiorra also had done the same thing during our fight. So yeah, that's what I could come up with." He ended with a snort.

"…You…!" The tips of Grimmjow's claw's glowed before long sharp foot length energy talons formed covering his fingers. "Pantera Destruccion!" Grimmjow lounged at Ichigo faster than previous one and rained down a barrage of blows. He uppercut ichigo under the chin sending him up towards the sky before appearing right above him with a leg raised. As soon as Ichigo stopped spinning facing him, he brought a clawed feet down on his face sending him down with a large boom.

"_That was oddly nostalgic wasn't it?"_

_Shut up._

Ichigo pulled himself out of the crater just in time for Grimmjow to kick him in the face sending him flying away. Ichigo stopped after flying several hundreds of meters away embedding into a sand dune. He groaned as he pulled himself out of sand dune and dusted his clothes just in time for Grimmjow to buzz into existence before him with a smirk.

"Well? Where's all that bravado from before gone to?" Grimmjow snarked. "Don't tell me _you_'ve gotten weaker?"

"Nah. You just caught me off guard that's all." Ichigo shrugged pulling out his zanpakuto. "Entertain me." With that he slashed faster than he ever did and blood flew.

"Huh?! Enter-gah!" Grimmjow gasped as blood spurted from a horizontal slash on his chest. _What!? My hierro is supposed to be stronger than Nnoitora's! _He swept a hand over his bleeding chest smearing blood over his palm before pointing it towards Ichigo. "DON'T LOOK DOWN AT ME! GRAN REY CERO!" A crackling sphere of dark blue energy formed and was launched point blank at Ichigo with the blast devouring Ichigo. "HAH! Take that you overconfident bastard!" He felt a tap on his shoulder and spun around only to be punched into the still raging Gran Rey Cero. "ARRGGH!" He jumped out of the blast smoking and panting with burns all over him. "Bas…tar…d…! Ho…how did you escape?" He huffed standing up straight in the air as the burn marks and wounds vanished releasing steam thanks to instant regeneration.

"Huh? You've got regeneration now?" Ichigo muttered ignoring Grimmjow's question. He sighed. "You've clearly gotten strong Grimmjow but you still didn't realize…" he paused as he stared Grimmjow straight in the eye. "…that I'm stronger than you." He dropped his reiatsu on Grimmjow causing him to fall on the sand with a pained grunt.

"Argh!" Grimmjow grunted as he raised his reiatsu to repel Ichigo's own. Abruptly Ichigo's reiatsu vanished allowing Grimmjow to stand up straight. "You bastard…!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah whatever." He pocketed his hands. "As you are now you can clearly give Ulquiorra a run for his money, so that's an improvement. Now the question is…will you still continue this farce or take me to meet up with the current ruler?"

Grimmjow saw red. How dare he look down at him?! He's Grimmjow! The King!

Grimmjow snarled and pointed his elbow at Ichigo further enraged when his target sighed. "Garra de la Pantera!" The darts this time were far more sharper, longer and faster and as a result had made contact with Ichigo but they simply skidded off of Ichigo's skin. Grimjow snarled and once again lounged at Ichigo. He didn't even make it half way to Ichigo before he was grabbed in the face by said person before his view of the world changed. Where he was looking at Ichigo, he was now rapidly feeling wind hit him as the moon was getting closer him. _Huh? _The moon suddenly stopped getting closer to him as he felt a tug on his ankle. The world started spinning around him- no wait, he was spinning on spot! Then he heard a loud boom and a few seconds later felt pain as he crashed through several walls of Las Noches before crashing into Mila Rose of Tier's fraccion startling the four in the throne room.

"Grimmjow?! What happened?!" Tier asked surprised to see the sexta in his Segunda Etapa.

"What the hell happened here?" Starrk said as he entered the throne room with Lilynette and straightened up seeing the crumpled and groaning form of the sexta.

"Ku…Kuro…saki hap…pened…argh!" Grimmjow groaned as he rolled off of the now knocked out Mila Rose.

"Kurosaki?" Tier asked as she and Starrk approach the now healing and sitting form of Grimmjow. "You mean _the _Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"Y-Yeah…" he groaned as his regeneration snapped a rib back into place. "B-Bastard's now an arrancar like us…" he panted as he stood up on wobbly legs leaning against a wall. "C-Couldn't even s-scratch him. Bastard's got one hell of a hierro…argh!" Starrk caught him as he came out of his resurreccion and fell. "H-he said he wanted to talk to you Tier."

Tier was worried. Firstly the wall opposite to the throne exploded and now the fact that Kurosaki Ichigo had invaded Hueco Mundo and attacked the sexta who was now as strong as her was a matter of concern. Not to mention that he came to talk with her. "Where is he now?" She inquired.

"Dunno. Last thing I knew before crashing here was getting close to the damned moon."

"Tch." Starrk clicked his tongue. "How strong is he if he threw you from that far?"

"Strong enough to take down the entire Gotei singlehandedly."

Grimmjow jumped as Ichigo spoke from beside him leaning against the wall behind him. Lilynette and Apacci screamed while Sung-sun hit the wall with hand over her heart. Tier immediately pulled out her zanpakuto and lounged at Ichigo only to pass through him and stab the wall. Starrk noticing Ichigo standing close to the throne now shot a bala at him. His bala shattered on contact with Ichigo who was unfazed.

"Will you guys calm down for a sec? All you did is panic ever since Grimmjow crashed here." Ichigo scowled.

"What do you want Kurosaki Ichigo?" Tier asked pointing her glowing zanpakuto at him. She took a good look at him and noted his features. _He indeed has become an arrancar but the question is why can't I sense anything from him?_

"Ichigo?" Everyone's heads snapped towards the doors where one Nelliel stood with wide open eyes.

"Nelliel?" Ichigo said as he fully turned towards the voluptuous woman who once saved him. "How'd yo-gah!" He couldn't finish his sentence as Nelliel covered the distance between them in a blink and bear hugged him.

"ICHIGO! UWWWWAAAAHH!" Everyone watched surprised as the first tercera was hugging Ichigo to death turning him blue from lack of oxygen all the while crying and sobbing hysterically.

"N-Nel…liel…! C-Can't b-bre…athe!" Ichigo rapidly tapped the woman who realizing her mistake released him profusely apologizing. Ichigo dropped to the floor chest expanding and contracting as he rapidly took large gulps of air. "Oh air! How I love you air!"

"I'm sorry." Nelliel apologized again sitting beside him.

"Meh! It's fine. No harm done!"

"But your lungs…"

"Instant regeneration."

"Oh." Nelliel paused taking in the now arrancarized Ichigo in all his glory. "How?"

Ichigo sat up and said, "Got killed again. Died. Fought my inner hollow and absorbed him. Became a Vasto Lorde. Broke my mask as soon as I regained my senses and here I am now." He finished with a shrug as if dying was a part of his day-to-day activities. "By the way Rukia said 'Hi' to you."

"Ahem."

Both of them looked at the now assembled arrancars in the room all wielding their respective zanpakutos. Both of them stood up and frowned.

"Calm down guys. Ichigo's now one of us. An arrancar." Nelliel said standing guard in front of Ichigo.

"Bastard attacked me from behind when I was coming here!"

"You did?" Nelliel asked incredulously.

"Hehehe~! Maybe?" Ichigo sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a grin. "Wanted to surprise him. Did wonders though." He mumbled the last part getting a raised eyebrow from Nelliel. "Anyway! How are you like this? I thought you still were a child."

"Orihime fixed me before leaving. That was kind of her."

"Ahem!"

"Yeah yeah I'm not a threat to you okay? I wanted to stop the fight! But nooooo! Grimmjow had to go and piss me! So I threw him towards the moon before throwing him here." Ichigo whined.

"See? He's not a threat. Grimmjow's the one at fault." Nelliel said getting a scoff and grumbling from Grimmjow.

Since Grimmjow didn't correct Nelliel and Ichigo, Tier sheathed her zanpakuto followed by everyone.

"Alright. What do you want then?"

Ichigo sheepishly scratched his cheek and bashfully asked, "Can I stay here? I can't stay at Soul Society nor can I stay in the world of the living because I'll end up killing everyone."

"…"

"…"

"Okay." Tier said surprising everyone. "But you will be Nelliel's responsibility. Your mistakes will weigh heavily on her."

"What!?"

"Okay."

"But Nelliel!"

"Are you saying you won't be a good boy Ichigo?" Nelliel asked with too much sugar.

"N-No m-ma'am." Ichigo replied sweating buckets.

_Already whipped. _Was the collective thoughts and inaudible scoffs of everyone except Nelliel.

"Good! Then let's go to my quarters!" Nelliel said dragging Ichigo with her.

"Yes ma'am."

"_You're so whipped."_

_Shut up you._

Women can be frustrating and scary!

* * *

"Since you're my responsibility, you'll do _everything _with me. Understood?" Nelliel said as she sat on her bed with Ichigo taking the couch.

_How's almost everything even fine after what this place went through?_ Ichigo thought looking around the room. "By everything you mean sharing the same room, bed, bathroom and clothes?"

"Yep. Except the clothes." Nelliel replied grinning when Ichigo turned red. "Unless you've got a cross-dressing fetish?"

"By the way, where's Pesche and Dondo Chakka? I haven't seen the two of them yet." Ichigo asked looking around the room expecting the two fools to pop out of nowhere. He grimaced when Nelliel's grin fell replaced by an expression of sadness.

"They were killed." She bit out. "We were returning from a practice session when we were ambushed by a group of men in white clothing wielding blue swords and bows. We were caught off guard. The two of them were killed first from the surprise attack. I was forced to kill everyone in a fit of rage and then bury their remains. It was a month ago." She opened a drawer of the bedside table and threw an object at him. "One of them had this."

Ichigo caught the object and examined it. His eyes widened when he recognized the object in his hand.

"_Master, that's…!"_

_A Quincy cross!_

Ichigo growled in anger as he crushed the cross in his hands and glared at the floor. "Fuck!" he cursed standing up and pulling at his hair. "Shit! Bastard's already made his move!" he punched the wall beside him shattering it.

"Ichigo?" Nelliel called out to him worried at his reaction. "What's wrong?"

Ichigo sharply turned towards her and growled. "Quincies. Those fucktards were fucking quincies!"

Nelliel's eyes widened in surprise. "No wonder their appearance matched Uryu's!" She sat down on the bed hands clasped in front of her while Ichigo walked back and forth fists clenching and teeth gritting.

"The bastard's got problems with Soul Society…not Hueco Mundo!" Ichigo said plopping down on the couch.

"_He's probably targeting Hueco Mundo first to subdue the hollows and arrancar."_

_But why? They didn't do anything._

"_It's so that the arrancars don't aid the Shinigami in the war. And besides they hate hollows don't they?"_

_Two birds with one stone… Fuck._

"How do you know this Ichigo?" Nelliel asked looking at him stone faced.

"There's a prophecy about the Quincy king. 'After 900 years of being sealed, he would regain his pulse; after another 90, he would regain his intellect; after 9 more years, he would absorb the power of every impure Quincy. And after 9 days he would regain the world.' I know it because my mother was also a Quincy." Ichigo scowled as he said. "And he's the reason my mother was killed by Grand Fisher. I'm gonna kill him when he shows up." Ichigo didn't realize it but his reiatsu was leaking out choking Nelliel.

"_ENOUGH MASTER! You're choking her!"_

With a start Ichigo snapped his head up and looked at Nelliel who was on the floor trying to breathe. He immediately reeled in his reiatsu and got to her side.

"Shit! I'm sorry Nelliel! I let my reiatsu out without knowing it!" He helped her sit up on the bed before rubbing her back as she heaved. "I'm really sorry." He hung his head in shame.

Nellel patted his back as she regained her breathing and said, "It's okay. No harm done. And besides, weren't you always bad at controlling your reiatsu?" She chuckled when Ichigo looked away with an embarrassed pout. _Still though…that was some serious reiatsu. Reminds me of Aizen's sort of._

"_Hahahaha!"_

_Shut up!_ Ichigo growled at his overly active zanpakuto spirit.

The doors slammed open and stormed in Tier. "What happened here?" She inquired as she looked at the embarrassed Ichigo and sheepish looking Nelliel.

"Ichigo here lost control of his reiatsu like usual, that's what happened." Nelliel said chuckling. She then donned a serious look and said, "Leaving that aside, Ichigo has something important to say." She nudged Ichigo who coughed in his hand and straightened up.

Ichigo looked Tier in the eyes and said, "War is coming. And this time, it's the repeat of an ancient war. Quincies and Shinigami. I'm sorry but if the ambush a month ago is anything to go by then this time you guys will be pulled into it too."

Tier soaked in the information and closed her eyes before sighing. "Alright. When do you think we'll be ambushed again?"

"I'm not sure but it might be soon. You better start training because I know I will." Ichigo said standing up. "You should call the others and let them know."

Tier nodded. "Very well. Head to the meeting room now. I'll be there." With a buzz she was gone.

Nelliel walked up to Ichigo and locked her arm with his. "Well then, let's go shall we?" Ichigo nodded and they were gone with a buzz.

* * *

"Why the hell did you call in a meeting Tier?" Grimmjow asked sitting down on a chair beside Starrk and Lilynette opposite to Ichigo and Nelliel. Tier was sitting at the head of the table with her fraccion standing behind her.

"Remember what happened last month?" Tier asked. Starrk tensed and Grimmjow raised an eyebrow.

"What about it?"

"It will happen again." Ichigo said drawing all eyes towards him. He had a serious expression on his face. "Those men in white were Quincies."

"Quincies?" Starrk asked. "How did they enter Hueco Mundo? Aren't they humans?"

"They are a special brand of humans. And the reason they attacked Hueco Mundo is due to their war against the Shinigami."

"Then it doesn't make sense for them to attack us. They have a vendetta against Shinigami, not us. So why did they attack us?" Tier asked.

"Because Yhwach, the Quincy king wants to subdue the arrancars so that they don't assist Soul Society in the upcoming war."

"How do you know all these Kurosaki?" Grimmjow asked scowling.

"Because my mother was a Quincy up until the moment Grand Fisher killed her _before my own eyes_. Yhwach had ripped my mother's powers leaving her powerless against Grand Fisher. As a result she had to sacrifice herself to save me."

"So you're going for revenge?" Grimmjow scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"Says the bitch that wanted to kill me three fucking times." Ichigo replied causing Grimmjow to glare at him.

"You wanna go at it, Kurosaki?!" Grimmjow glowered pulling out his zanpakuto.

"Say that after getting half as strong as I am, _pussycat_!"

"ENOUGH!" Tier yelled releasing her control over her reiatsu causing Grimmjow to grunt while Ichigo scoffed and sat down with a scowl and crossed arms. "We do not have time for quarrel like this. We must prepare ourselves first and foremost!"

"Calm down Ichigo." Nelliel said rubbing said person's back.

"So you're telling me…" Starrk began getting everyone's attention. "…that we've got to fight another war?" He sighed getting nods from Ichigo and Tier. "And here I thought I'd be able to sleep peacefully for the next century." He grumbled and got an eyeroll from Lilynette.

"Back to the topic at hand." Tier said getting everyone's attention. "How strong do you think these Quincies are Kurosaki Ichigo?"

Ichigo looked at the table with a frown recalling about the fight of Uryu and Mayuri and of Uryu and arrancars and then Ginjo and Tsukishima.

"They attacked us in a group and considering that I was able to defeat them all at once means that either they are weak or they were fodder." Nelliel said.

"It's the latter." Ichigo said looking at Tier. "Uryu isn't the strongest Quincy yet he was able to defeat a captain and a few arrancars. So if they are going to battle against Soul Society then they'll need 26 captain class soldiers or else they are doomed."

"No rest for the wicked eh?" Starrk said getting a scoff from Grimmjow.

"I see." Tier said interlocking her fingers and sighed closing her eyes. "So that means to defeat us they are going to send captain class quincies…how troublesome." She looked at everyone and narrowed her eyes. "Everyone start training. We'll need it." She landed her eyes on Ichigo and said, "We know everyone's resurreccion here except yours Ichigo Kurosaki. Care to show us?" She stood up and walked towards the door.

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and said, "Then let's get out of Las Noches. Ulquiorra said something about Espada below rank four not being allowed to release their zanpakuto. So yeah we should get out of Las Noches." Ichigo stood up and grabbed Nelliel by the shoulder. "See you there." With a buzz he and Nelliel were gone.

"Tch." Grimmjow followed by everyone walked out of the palace into the vast desert where they could see Ichigo stretching. Starkk sat down on a nearby slab of stone with Lilynette beside him. Grimmjow was standing a few meters right of him while Tier and her fraccion stood to his left joined by Nelliel. Ichigo was about a hectare away from them waiting for a signal.

"You guys ready?" Nelliel asked looking giddy like a child. Receiving nods from everyone she flashed a thumbs up at Ichigo who pulled out his zanpakuto. Even from a hectare away from them, his words reached them loud and clear.

**"Salvage, Rey Demonio."**

* * *

Ichigo stood in the ready a hectare away from everyone waiting for Nelliel to give him the signal. As soon as Nelliel literally flashed him a thumbs up, black energy seeped out of his hole first before seeping out of his body all at once forming a sphere just as he muttered the release command.

**"Salvage, Rey Dominio."**

As soon as his transformation was over, he vanished and reappeared a few meters in front of everyone startling the fraccion.

* * *

_Demon King huh?_ Starrk thought as he took in the sight of the now transformed Ichigo in his Resurreccion.

_What the fuck is that?!_ Grimmjow gritted his teeth as he observed Ichigo in his Resurreccion. His instincts screaming at him to bow down to Ichigo.

_Hmm…so this is his Resurreccion? _Tier and Nelliel simultaneously thought.

Standing before them was a white _demon_. Standing at seven feet height, its skin was bone white and had long straight orange hair that reached down to its waist. It had four blue wings with the upper two being wider and longer than the lower two. It had four horns. Two forward pointing horns protruding from the temples and two protruding from the corner of its lower jaw that curved backwards round the neck stopping at the gaps between the shoulder blades and spine. Its chest was decorated with black markings that originated from its hollow hole across its chest and shoulders. The black markings seemed to have slight shades of crimson and blue on its edges.

Its fingers and toes appeared to be more talon-like in nature and looked razor sharp. The tips of its fingers and toes were black. From the tip of its middle finger, the black mark ran along the length of its arms and joined with the V part of the other black markings on its shoulders.

Its shoulders seemed a bit bulkier as they were decorated with silver glistening sharp scales that glowed blue underneath with every breath. The scales spread out to the back of its upper arms, the sides of its body and thighs. Its calves were covered entirely in layered scales.

Its elbows and knees were covered by three black flexible claws that were outlined by crimson glowing cracks.

Its hollow mask had sharp teeth in a grin. Four small spikes covered its chin between the horns that protruded from the corners of its lower jaw. Said protrusions were jet black in color and were outlined with glowing crimson cracks on the outer side while glowing yellow in the inner side. The horns protruding from his temples made a menacing appearance for most part while its empty eye sockets were glowing eerie menacing yellow.

**"**_**Well?"**_Ichigo asked crossing his arms as he landed on the sand folding his wings around him in the form of a long blue overcoat.

"The name suits the transformation." Tier said and narrowed her eyes. "However, why do I not feel anything from you?"

"Because the bastard's the same as Aizen." Grimmjow spat making the fraccion pale while the espadas frowned…except Nelliel who was a blushing and panting mess.

"Such…power…haaaaah~!" Everyone looked at Nelliel's glazed over eyes and face-palmed.

**"**_**Nelliel…"**_ Ichigo groaned unknowing sending pleasant shivers up Nelliel's spine making her weak in the knees. _**"…now is not the time to give into your masochistic tendencies!"**_ Ichigo's deep double toned booming voice was only making it worse.

Nelliel took a deep breath and composed herself standing tall and proud like the Espada she was. "Hehe~! Sorry about that~!" She sheepishly rubbed her head. She then pulled out her zanpakuto and held it horizontally making it glow pink and release smoke. "You haven't tested its full power yet have you?" She asked as the others and Ichigo jumped back with a shake of his head creating distance between them. "Good. **Declare, Gamuza**." The glow intensified into a huge burst of reiatsu that covered the surrounding area. As the smoke cleared out Nelliel took the form of a brownish-green ibex-like centaur, complete with a black horse's tail. Her Hollow mask's horns became longer and more curved, and also extended slightly, framing the sides of her face, particularly the cheeks. Her shoulders were covered by white spaulders that came across her shoulder blade to her neck. She had white elbow guards and white gauntlets. The parts of her arm that weren't covered by armor are covered by a black material, which also covered her hands. There was a white ring at the base of her tail. Gamuza itself transformed into a double-sided lance. She looked at Tier and nodded receiving one in return.

Tier zipped up her jacket revealing her hollow mask and pulled out her own zanpakuto and held it in front of her with the blade pointing down. "**Destroy,** **Tiburon**."Harribel, declaring the release command, was completely enveloped by a heart-shaped surge of water which closed around her to form a cocoon-like cyclone, which Harribel cut herself out of. Her mask remnants became a collar, with extensions covering her nipples. She gained spaulders on her shoulders, which bore a resemblance to shark fins, and two ribbon-like protrusions on her back. A thin, spine-like structure formed on her stomach, spanning from her waist to the underside of her breasts. Harribel wore a mini-skirt consisting of bones surrounding a dark undergarment. She wore a pair of knee-length boots and elbow-length gloves. Her weapon took the form of a broad pata, which resembled an elongated shark tooth, featuring an unusual hilt with a hand guard which completely covered her hand. The sword possesses gill markings along either side of the blade. Harribel lost her three braids, causing her hair to become messy, and gained two blue lightning bolt markings on both sides of her face.

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow and said, "That won't be enough."

"What do you mean?" Tier asked.

"I couldn't scratch him when he was in his base form despite me being in Segunda Etapa. What makes you think you two in your resurreccion can do anything?"

"Oho~? Is the _pussycat _worried about us _ladies_?" Nelliel teased.

Before Grimmjow could reply, Ichigo piped in. _**"He's got a point. It will take ALL of you to **_**scratch **_**me. So I suggest that all of you come at me at once."**_

"Ne ne Starrk!" Lilynette shook the now sleeping form of the primera espada. "Let's join them! It'll be fun!"

Starrk opened one of his eyes and looked at the trio in battle ready positions.

"**Grind, Pantera**!" Grimmjow released his zanpakuto and directly jumped to Segunda Etapa. "**Resurreccion: Segunda Etapa**!"

Starrk sighed and stood up gaining everyone's attention and cracked his shoulders and neck. "Let's do it Lilynette." He said placing his hand on said person's head. "**Kick About, Los Lobos**." He called out lazily. His Arrancar outfit changed drastically as his upper body was covered in a gray fur-lined jacket over a double-breasted vest, while his legs were covered in dark, skin-tight pants, with gray knee-high fur leggings covering his lower legs, and his arms were covered in gray, elbow-length fur armbands, which ended at his wrists. There were ribbon-covered bandoleers emerging from his upper back and disappearing into his upper forearms. He was wielding two ornamental pistols which actually were Lilynette. Part of Lilynette's mask appeared on his head, stretching from the back of his head around to the eyepiece on his left eye, with the flame pattern changing to emerge from the eyepiece and follow the mask fragment around to the back of his head. The mask itself was connected by two chains around his right eye.

**"Yosh! Let's do this Starrk!"** Lilynette spoke through the guns shaking them in Starrk's hands.

"Yeah yeah whatever." Starrk said standing beside Grimmjow forming an arc in front of Ichigo.

Ichigo chuckled shaking his head. _**"Let's see if you guys can push me to my limits. Hehehe!" **_Ichigo's hollow mask widely grinned sending shivers down everyone's spine. _**"Now, COME AT ME!"**_

* * *

**Used Grimmjow and Nelliel's Hogyoku infused form as their Segunda Etapa.**


End file.
